Solid ink or phase change ink printers conventionally use ink in a solid form, either as pellets or as ink sticks of colored cyan, yellow, magenta and black ink, that are inserted into feed channels through openings to the channels. Each of the openings may be constructed to accept sticks of only one particular configuration. After the ink sticks are fed into their corresponding feed channels, they are urged by gravity or a mechanical actuator to a solid ink melting assembly of the printer.
Previously known ink melting assemblies typically included substantially flat, heated melt plates that were oriented at least somewhat vertically. One issue with the use of flat melt plates is the limited surface area of the melt plate that may be contacted by an ink stick which in turn limits the rate at which ink may be melted and supplied to the printheads. Faster print speeds require more ink melt in a given span of time. Phase change ink may be damaged by over heating so simply increasing the temperature generated by the melt plate to increase the melt flow rate may not be practical.
In addition, while the vertical orientation of the plates enabled the melted ink to flow down the plates to a drip point to control the flow of ink, the vertical orientation of the plates necessitated a somewhat horizontal feed path in order to bring solid ink sticks in contact with the plates. Feed paths in some phase change ink imaging devices may be vertical or include vertical feed sections which allow gravity to be the driving force that urges or moves ink along the fed path and into contact with a melt plate. Flat, horizontally oriented melt plates, however, may not be adequate to direct the flow of molten ink in a controlled fashion.